Sunday, August 7, 2011

Fishing in the local culture

Hi there,

Fishing is an important and integral part of the culture of Darwin. A city situated in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. So much that many of the local businesses prefer to advertise on fishing lures than on stress balls, or baseball caps.
As an example here are three little fishing lures to support the argument.

First a lure with some advertising for the local casino, and no I do not support gambling, even if fishing might look a bit like gambling to the uninitiated (this lure is a Mad Mullet from Lively Lures).

A lure with the Skycity logo.

Then a lure with the logo from one of the most recognised insurer in Darwin, TIO (this lure is a Taipan from Reidy's).

TIO advertising fishing lure.

So far we have the gambling and the insurance industries represented.
Nice match some of you might say...

And now comes the education industry with a lure produced by a high school to celebrate the 21st birthday of the school (this lure is a Little Lucifer from Reidy's).

From Dripstone High School.

In Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Ho how much I would have loved that my own high school was producing some cool fishing lures instead of just the T-shirts of the school's sport team...

The array of industries represented here on fishing lures, I believe demonstrate the importance of fishing in a place like Darwin.
Fishing is part of its local culture, like cowboys are part of Texas and the Eiffel Tower is part of Paris.

Now the question is what some archeologist will say about that in the future? Are we going to see one day some budding young archeologists like Ms. Dig look at the subject with interest and write about it in their blogs?
Personally I hope so.
Some people will argue that in the western world today, recreational fishing is nothing more than a hobby. But isn't a very popular hobby part of the cultural background of a society? 

Yes here are some of the questions I ask myself when I spend a full weekend without fishing...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

2 comments:

Ms. Dig said...

Hey, thanks for the link! I think the archaeology of fishing is very interesting, and I know a couple of people who research it.

I'm very interested in the branding of fishing lures with non-fishing-related logos. It seems to bring a leisure activity into the mainstream culture (where nearly everyone is exposed to education, gambling and insurance).

I wonder if there are any other equivalent hobbies (outside of professional sport) that have been 'corporatised' in this way?

Cheers,
Ms. Dig.

Rambling Expat said...

Hi Ms.Dig,

I like the post you made about it on your blog, you raised some interesting topics there.

Have a good day,
Me.